It’s safe to say that this was the most ambitious score I’ve attempted, but at the same time, it cam together very naturally. We’d built such a coherent world through the character dynamics, projections, props etc. that the music just needed to accentuate these pre-existing elements, rather than crconjure emotional moments from whole cloth.
Power Human
Pulsing Dark Wave analogue synths were such an obvious choice I don’t remember even making it. The original jumping off point was the fridge, we both felt an ominous pulse emanating from it. It is in itself a symbol of control. To Dog Human, it originally represents the fulfilment of his desires, and therefor, in a limited sense, freedom. To Power Human though it is an inviolable totem of his superiority. This relationship is analogous to a dog (I love dogs by the way) associating his lead with freedom, where it is actually the instument of their slavery; or our relationship with money.
The ominous tones led readily into the harsh, aggressive synth attacks and Power Human’s theme really didn’t need much more. A few passes improvising on the keys, a few more recording automation and tweaking parameters and the simple brutality of his mind seemed to me sonically realised. The simplicity of this motif did not lend itself to permutations, as he, no matter who he inhabits, is constant. Angel Human, however, is a completely different matter.
Angel Human
Angel Human’s appearance marks a shift in the arc of the film, and this needed to be reflected sonically. Perhaps it is clichéd to summon a choir for the coming of an Angel, but it felt right; and why be clever for the sake of it. The timbral juxtaposition is obvious, but I also wanted to invoke a more complex harmonic landscape, to give a sense of the beauty stripped away by such institutionalised barbarism. Our vessel for this divine inspiration (here it must be said that the Angel is used architypically and carries no overt judeo-christian weight from my perspective) is the neutered mind of Dog Human however; which places severe limits on the bandwidth of this sublime force. The harmonies of the choir are low in the mix, and somewhat muffled in an attempt to imply a beauty at the edge of consciousness.
Angel Human’s main motif, whilst certainly born of this other world, be it within or without Dog Human (or both), is clear and simplistic. It utilises the pallatte of the divine whilst painting in simple strokes readily ingelligble to DH: it is a message purely for him. As things progress, the purity of this message, this motif, is corrupted throught some kind of psychological entropy or regression towards the mean. It is stretched, subjected to permutations and different voicings as it is assimilated into it’s intended recipient, changing and inspiring him, and itself.
Dog Human
The culmination and synthesis of the main themes of the piece: a battle, an attempted bilateral corruption where there can be only one winner.
The entire score was created in Reason 10 and you can Download the Reason Project File here.